Mail-bag catcher



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Paten ed Oct. 16, 1883.

WITNESSES: aw 0 7 ATTORNEYS.

1 UNITED TATES JOSEPH ARTHER KELLOGG, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

MAIL-BAG CATCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,932, dated October 16, 1883.

Application filed August 21,1S83. (No model) T alZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, Josnrn: A. KELLOGG, of. Nashville, in the county of Davidson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Bag Catcher, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, efficient, and inexpensive device to Y be fixed to a mail-car for catching mail bags naled in bearing-blocks fixed to the side of the car, said shaft extending horizontally across the doorway of the car, and having a suitable handle, by which it may be swung axially to bring the catch-arm in position to catch the mailbag from the crane.

The invention includes also special constructions of the catch-bar with two opposite catch-arms, and other special constructions and combinations of.the parts of the catcher, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 represents, in perspective view, my improved mail-bag catcher as adjusted to catch the bag from the crane at the side of the track; and Fig. 2 is a central crosssectional elevation of the catcher as when out of use.

The letter A represents a portion of the side of a mail-car at the doorway, across which my improved mailbag catcher is applied.

The catcher consists, essentially, of a bar, a, held to a shaft, b, which is journaled at its opposite ends to swing in bracketblocks c, firmly secured by screw-bolts 0, or otherwise, to the side of the car at each side of its doorway, as shown. The shaft 1) has a projecting handle, 01, by which the mail-catcher may be swung on the pivot-bearings of shaft 5 in the blocks 0 from the position shown in Fig. 2,. to which position the catcher gravitates, by the weight of bar a when out of use, to the position of Fig. 1, for presenting either end or arm a of bar a for catching the mail bag or pouch which hangs from the usual crane at the side of the trackfthe construction of the catch-bar a, ,with the two opposite arms a, permitting a use of the device when the car A is moving in either direction, and without requiring a change'of position or other adjustheavier central portion toward the extreme ends of its catch-arms a, which are preferably tapered to the ends, as shown, and the shaft 1) is recessed, as at b, at each side of the point of connection to it of the bar a, to form with the bent arms a a pocket or grasp, which, while securely holding the mail bag-or pouch after catching it from the crane, will permit a comparatively easy release of the bag from the catcher by the mail-agents in the ear; and to further facilitate the release of the bag from the catcher, I have provided a shoulder, e, at the joint of bar a with shaft b, which shoulder may consist of a separate block supported on the tenon d of handle d, as shown, or said shoulder may be formed directly on either the shaft 1) or the bar a, or partly on both, as desired.' A strong pin or rivet holds the bar a to the tenon d of the handle (I.

It will be noted that my improved mail-bag catcher is a fixture to the car, is always ready when needed, requires no adjustment for reverse directions of travel, cannot jar out of place, and is simple and positive in its action.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent In a mail-bag catcher, the combination, with the horizontal shaft 2), arranged across the doorway, and pivoted in bearings c, secured to the sides of the car, of the catch-bar a, having two catch-arms, a. a, tapered from the middle toward its ends, and secured centrally upon a handle, (Z, passed through the shaft 11, substantially as. and for the purpose set forth.

JOSEPH ARTHER KELLOGG.

WVitnesses:

FRED STREET, J AMES H. SULLIVAN. 

